


How is a Lock like a Spear?

by Hawkscape



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Emotional Baggage, Emotions, Episode Fix-it, Fellowship of the Spear, Fix-It, Gen, Internal Conflict, Leonard Snart Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 23:59:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10627905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkscape/pseuds/Hawkscape
Summary: Why he used the spear was obvious.How he did it and what would happen next was less so.





	

Snart's voice sounded cold and filled with more underlying anger then Mick remembered, but he was warring with himself too hard at the moment to really analyze it. “That's the thing about Mick you never really understood, he doesn't have friends.” The fake (or maybe to real) Snart's face seemed to crack with all the smugness it showed. “But, he does have a partner.” 

The Legends looked at Mick as if this was disappointing, but not unexpected. Except for Ray, who looked genuinely heartbroken. “No, Mick. We are your friends.” 

Cold threw cocked his head to the side like someone had just tried to sell him the Eiffel tower. “Oh come on, you never accepted Mick as anything but my baggage. Always trying to change him and being afraid that he would betray you without me around to keep him leashed.” Snart shrugged. “You treated him like a dog, he was going to bite you sooner or later.” The Legends were reeling and in the middle of a battle field, but couldn't deny that what the criminal was saying had truth to it. 

A rough low voice broke through the grief. “Had.” 

Leonard tilted his head towards Mick. “Say something, Mick?” 

Mick seemed to snap out of his inner battle and griped the spear tighter while staring down his own personal ghost. “I said, I HAD a partner.” Everyone's posture seemed to shift as they began to realize what Mick was doing and the spear began to glow. “And I want HIM back.” Faster than even a speedster could stop it, everyone was blinded by a white light. When it faded, all eyes turned to Snart who looked like he had just had his picture taken with the flash on and hadn't expected it. His expression turned from dazed to humorous in a second. He dropped his gun slightly as he began to laugh loud and rancorously. 

Everyone looked between the two former partners, but Vixen spoke up first. “Mick?” 

Ray raised an eyebrow. “I think you broke him.” 

Snart finally seemed to regain his composer. “Mick, you…” He stood up to his full height again and raised his gun to match. “Are an idiot.” The Legends all seemed to slump in disappointment. “Did you really think that would work? It's not a magic wand, Mick.” He let out another laugh that was more of a cruel bark than the one before. Mick narrowed his eyes to mask his shame with anger. “You can't even double cross someone properly.” Snart's body seemed to tighten like a bow string. “You do it like this.” Almost quicker than he could get the words out, he turned his cold gun on Eobard. The gun couldn't do any real harm to him, but it did slow him down enough for the rest of the Legends to jump in. Mick quickly took his place beside Snart to keep the Legion incapacitated while everyone joined the fray. 

“Mick!” He turned to see Vixen holding up the vial of blood. Cold worked to cover them as Heatwave threw the spear to her. She seemed to hesitate, and Mick wanted to yell at her to get it over with, but he knew he didn't have the right after just doing what he did. She seemed entranced by the spear and in a similar struggle that Mick had been in moments before. 

It was Nate who snapped her out of it, as he was having a hard time defending her from bullets while she was just standing still and needed her to get this over with. Her eyes seemed to harden and flash in conjunction with the spear glowing once more and everyone paying attention knew what she had done. There wasn't time to think about it though as she gripped the spear close to the head and shoved it through the glass front of the blood vial with the strength of a bear. The sound of glass breaking seemed to echo farther than it should have as the blood started to seep into every wrinkle and crack of the spear, glowing red like magma. The spear suddenly became too hot for Amaya to handle and she dropped it. As it hit the ground it seemed to shatter into a million pieces, as if made of the fragilest glass. The shards flashed and twinkled before crackling into dust. 

Eobard struggled against the ice keeping him in place. “NO!” He cracked through it in his rage and seemed to not know who to release his fury on first. His eyes quickly zeroed in on Mick and zoomed over to knock the gun out of his hand before the former criminal could raise it and picked him up by the neck. The Legends broke off from their smaller skirmishes and surrounded him, readying their weapons. 

Everyone had righteous fury in their eyes. Snart said what everyone was feeling. “Put him down or we put you down.” It might have been the lightheadedness from lack of oxygen, but Mick felt touched. Mostly around his windpipe. Eobard looked around him and Heatwave could feel him weighing the pros and cons of just snapping his neck right there. 

His savior came from an unlikely place: Malcolm Merlyn. “Thawn! We’re outnumbered and the spears gone. We need to regroup.” Eobard seemed to have his own inner battle before tossing Mick into a ditch a ways away and speeding off with the rest of the Legion to somewhere unknown. 

“Mick!” Everyone ran to the lip of the crater. Snart and Vixen slid down to the rumpled coat of a man. 

Mick slowly sat up with a groan and shook off some dirt. Vixen and Cold held out their hands to hoist the man back to his feet. He shook off more of the dirt and tried to stop his head from spinning before turning to his partner. “You get my gun?” 

Snart tossed it into his chest without warning and his partner caught it, a little bewildered. He was still getting used to Snart not being a figment of his imagination and able to actually do things. Leonard gave a small upturn of his lip in amusement at the reaction. Firestorm broke in promptly from slightly above them. “Okay guys, glad your okay, glad you're alive, we ARE still in a war zone though, so maybe let's move it.” As if to illustrate the point an explosion went off not to far away and threw more dirt into the already formed crater. 

“Yep.” Mick had no shame in using his hands to climb up the hole. 

“Let's go.” Amaya followed in a similar fashion, but imbued with the spirit of an actual badger she had more of an excuse. 

“Right behind you.” Snart brought up the rear with his usual finesse and managed to keep his hands clean somehow. 

As they all bobbed and weaved back to the ship, Ray decided to say what everyone was thinking. “So...who's going to explain all this to Rip?” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The Captain pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. “So, you did what I precisely told you not to do.” 

They all shuffled their feet and wandered their eyes until Ray spoke up with his usual ‘aw-shucks’ expression. “Well, we destroyed the spear, so we also did the thing you told us precisely TO do.” 

It was a wonder Rip didn't have a constant stress headache from all of these shenanigans. “One doesn't cancel out the other! Mister Rory put everyone in this group and potentially the entire time line in danger. I knew I shouldn't have trusted-” 

Vixen stepped forward. “Hey! Mick saved us all, and he gave up the spear so I could destroy it.” 

Snart shrugged. “Technically I saved you all, but Mick saved me, so I’ll let that slide on a technicality.” 

The animal woman continued. “Besides, he wasn't…the only one who used the spear.” 

Rip looked like he was going to have a fit. “First of all,” He pointed at Snart. “I am not talking to you, time zombie.” Ray quietly mouthed ‘time zombie?’ to himself in amusement. “Second of all, did everyone just decide to use it? Just say bugger all with any kind of stable time stream, let's turn the sky purple?” 

Snart spoke up from his leaning spot on the wall outside of the main circle again. “Don't forget they both gave it up, Captain. Didn't you say something about us getting tempted to use it over and over? Seems like you don't have much appreciation for your own teams willpower, or the necessity to break rules once in awhile.” 

Nate leaned over to Ray. “Have they always been like this?” 

The Atom nodded. “I almost forgot.” 

Mick spoke up for the first time in his slow drawl. “I’m just surprised it worked.” 

Ray couldn't stop himself from thinking aloud. “Yeah, seems like if you had a reality altering spear, it should be harder to use. I mean, it's not like we had an instruction manual for the thing.” 

Rip's voice cut in. “That’s because it doesn't and shouldn't have worked like that.” He paced around in agitation with his patented stern look. “Snart may have been bluffing, but he was right. It's not like wishing on a star, there are words you have to say. Incantations.” He rubbed his mouth in irritation. “How you and Miss Amaya waved it around like a magic wand and made it work, I have no idea.” Mick looked at his partner in time changing as if she had the answer. She shrugged. Rip stopped his stalking for a moment to bark orders at the ceiling. “Gideon, did we test everybody for Homo Magi genes when they joined the ship?” 

Micks face scrunched up. “For what?” 

Nobody seemed to hear him as Gideon responded evenly. “Negative, Captain. It wasn't part of the base health scan I conducted.” 

Rip pointed in the direction of the two of them. “Do it now then.” 

There was a small interval of silence where no one talked and Mick waited in anticipation as if someone would explain to him what Hunter was talking about. Apparently they needed some prompting. “You going to explain what you're talking about, or are we just supposed to sit here while-” 

Gideon interrupted him and he was getting a little tired of being cut off and ignored. “Everyone has negligible traces of Homo Magi genes, except for Miss Amaya who is 5%, and Mister Rory who is 3%.” 

Hunter indicated them both again. “That's it. Both of you are genetically predisposed to magic use.” 

Vixen looked more bewildered than Mick. “I have a necklace that lets me transform into different animals that's passed down through my family. I thought you knew that.” 

Rip shook his head. “No, no, that's...let me try and explain this. Any human can do magic, especially if they use magic items, like your necklace or the spear. It normally takes certain incantations, rituals, or training to do it effectively, but it's not uncommon. However, there is a subspecies of humans called Homo Magi that are genetically linked to the forces of magic in some way that allows them to use magic easier then normal people. Both of you are at least partially Magi which must have allowed you to use the spear without the incantations or rituals.” 

Most everyone in the ship raised an eyebrow skeptically. Mick tried to explain it easier partially for himself and partially for everyone else. “Kind of like brute forcing a lock without the key?” 

Hunter’s enthusiasm for this revelation was dampened somewhat by the over simplified metaphor. “More like phasing through the door and ignoring the lock entirely.” 

Mick nodded seriously even though everyone else was still grasping these sudden and apparently well known facts. 

Ray broke the tension by leaning on Mick’s shoulder suddenly and heavily. “You’re a wizard, Micky!” 

The former criminal brushed off the hand. “Call me that again and I’ll make you disappear.” 

Rip was to swept up in this revelation to notice the squabble. “I don't know why I didn't see it before, or at least search for it...maybe not with Rory, but Miss Amaya at least...might have helped with the search for the spear.” He had dissolved into mumbling to himself in a kind of stupor before his eyes caught sight of Leonard Snart again and he and abruptly cut off back to sobriety. “Yes, well, it's good that the Legion has been defeated for now, but we still have to deal with the ramifications of both of you using the spear and changing time. Being time masters mean that we can't just go changing-” 

“I didn't change time.” Vixen spoke up suddenly and glared daggers at Rip. 

Rip looked around at her in confusion. “What...what do you mean you didn't? You wished for-” The words seem to stick in his a though by some unseen force. 

“I didn't change time.” She repeated herself. “I wished that I didn't know my future, and that I would never know it again.” 

Mick broke in offhandedly. “You mean I could have had infinite wishes if I had just said ‘and’ in between all of them?” 

The time captain cleared his throat and took in this new information. “Well...good job, you made the right choice. Might have been able to find a way to do it easier then altering the fabric of reality, but you could have done worse.” He turned to Mick. “You on the other hand-” 

Snart put a hand on Rip’s shoulder despite the fact that no one had noticed him sneaking up behind the trench coated man. “Give it a rest time cop, everything’s fine.” 

Hunter jerked away violently. “No, Mister Snart, everything's NOT fine. You shouldn't be-” 

“Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't be alive. Not the first time I've heard that one.” He walked over to stand next to Mick. “but think about it this way. I wouldn't have died if the time masters hadn't been messing with time, so really, now that I'm back, the time line is as it should be, right?” 

Rip growled. “No, not right. There's still a Snart shaped hole in time back in the 2000s from where the Legion plucked you, but we can't put you back because now you know to much and are not the same person you were then.” 

Gideon broke in. “Captain, this might answer some questions.” The viewer showing the time stream outside the ship suddenly shifted to what seemed to be a news report. 

“Police are still on the lookout for criminals Leonard Snart and Mick Rory after the robbery of the the Central City National Bank.” It showed some unflattering mugshots and grainy bank video footage. The date at the bottom of the screen read August 24, 2012. “If you have any information leading to the arrest of these two then please contact-” The screen cut off and returned to the swirling view of the time stream. 

Rip looked confused once more. “But, that was after the Legion…” He turned to Cold. “But that’s you.” 

Snart had his own patented look of smugness on his face. “That WAS me, about five years ago.” 

Rip was trying to piece together how this came to pass. He should have known the spear wouldn't have left gaping time holes, it simply change reality more to close them up. Thankfully, the dominoes had not fallen too far this time, but it was close. 

Snart cut into his thoughts. “In the hour or so I’ve been back alive and well, I’ve thought about this a lot and this is what I think Mick did.” He made a point to say ‘Mick’ and not ‘The Spear’. “At the same moment I got taken from wherever I was and slotted back into my place on that battlefield, my past counterpart had his memory wiped and slotted back into where he was taken from in the 2000s.” 

Rip seemed unable to believe that any time problem could be solved that cleanly, but the former bank robber wanted this discussion to be over with once and for all. “Rip. Just let it go. Everyone's problems are solved, and you got me back as a consolation prize.” Hunter didn't seem to fully believe it, but he resigned to let the matter drop for the time being. 

Ray stepped forward to break the tension yet again. “Well, now that that's all over…” He went over to Mick and Snart and put a hand on each of their shoulders. He spoke in a much softer voice.“I’m glad you guys are back.” 

Mick looked exasperated. “I never left, poindexter.” 

Rays eyes got that honest doey look. “You left the same time Snart did, Mick.” 

Mick grabbed his face and pushed him away decisively as he gave muffled protest. “Enough with the touchy feely stuff, I need a nap.” 

Gideon chimed in. “Make sure to drink some water Mister Rory, magic can be draining on the body.” 

Mick started walked back to his room. “Hm...this magic thing might come in handy.” 

Rip shot a glance to the ceiling. “Gideon, lock all literature pertaining to fire magic in the ship's archives until further notice.” 

The computer seemed to smile. “Already done, Captain.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

And so the ship returned to some form of normalcy. Snart took great joy in startling people who thought he was dead, Amaya learned that ignorance was sometimes the closest thing to bliss you could get without tearing apart the time line, and Mick learned some party trick magic before deciding that guns were more his speed. He still got thrown whenever anyone that wasn't him talked to Snart, but thankfully no one told the Cold criminal about his partners hallucinations in his absence. 

Ray threw a party to celebrate everything turning out better than anyone reasonably expected it to. Everyone attempted to subtly form a ring around Snart to soak up his presence, but with a crew of so few people, it really wasn't that subtle. After people had started to meander back off to their quarters for the night, Mick finally got a chance to talk to his newly resurrected partner alone. They both were staring out of the screen into the time stream with various five cent balloons scattered around them on the floor. 

“Snart…” The newly resurrected man hummed questioningly as he swished his drink around to hear the soft clinking sound it made. “If you ever try to sacrifice yourself for someone else ever again, I’m going to kill you.” 

Cold chuckled slightly as he went to take a drink. “You're acting like you didn't try to do it first.” 

Mick might have normally had a response for that, but the late hour and the alcohol were challenging him. 

There was a long silence before Leonard spoke up smoothly. “Mick?” Heatwave hummed absentmindedly in response. “Was I really that much of a dick five years ago?” 

Mick started laughing in a low and rumbling way. “Probably. Didn’t seem to bother me then, though.” He frowned slightly. “Guess I changed a lot in five years to.” 

Snart got serious. “More like five hundred years.” He looked down into his drink. “I've never been big on fairness Mick, but the exchange of me leaving you to die for an infinite amount of time and then you deciding to bring my back from the dead seems a bit oddly weighted.” 

Mick just shrugged and grunted slightly. “I got over the abandonment thing.” 

Snart shot him a sideways look. “But not over my death?” 

Heatwave put down his drink slowly and silently on the nearest flat surface and started walking away. This was getting too touchy feely for him. “G’night Snart.” 

His partner didn't turn to look at him leave, and instead kept staring into the swirling time stream out the window. “See you tomorrow, partner.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to drop me a line!  
> http://hawkscape.tumblr.com/  
> https://www.youtube.com/c/HawkScape  
> http://hawkscape.deviantart.com/


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